Showing posts with label opio sokoni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opio sokoni. Show all posts
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Bessie Coleman Street in South Africa
Did you know that there is also a Bessie Coleman Street in the Tigane province of South Africa. Bessie Coleman street runs into Thabo Mbeki and Walter Sisulu streets. Mbeki is a ANC member and former president of South Africa. Sisulu was jailed 25 years with Mandela. It is also one street over from Malcolm X and Winnie Mandela streets. Wow, she is in good company. Tigane is situated in Klerksdorp, North West, South Africa. It is west of Johannesburg and Soweto.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Bessie Coleman Street Named
Pioneer Aviatrix Bessie Coleman was from the other Atlanta - a small town in Texas. Just like Chicago and Frankfurt Germany, a street at the airport is named in Brave Bessie's honor...
www.bessiecoleman.com/Other%20Pages/release_2.html
Atlanta Honors Bessie Coleman
City names street in aviator's honor
Journal Staff Report
The city of Atlanta honored one of its own Friday when it unveiled a street sign renaming the road leading to the city airport to Bessie Coleman Drive. The road was originally named Airport Drive.
Coleman was American's first female African-American pilot. She was born in Atlanta on Jan. 26, 1892, the sixth surviving child of Susan and George Coleman.
She made headlines in 1921when she became the first African-American woman to earn an international pilot's license. On Sept. 3, 1922 she made history as she became the first black woman to fly over American soil.
Coleman died April 30, 1926 in a flying accident near Jacksonville, Florida.
She was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame on Nov. 10 of this year.
Mayor Kay Philips unveiled the sign and guests were treated to refreshments afterward in the terminal at the Atlanta Municipal Airport.
www.bessiecoleman.com/Other%20Pages/release_2.html
Friday, September 20, 2013
Bessie Coleman and the Jacksonville Free Press
Bessie Coleman resolution event is covered by The Jacksonville Free Press newspaper...
Bessie Coleman John Betsch the Beach Lady and Johnetta B Cole
The man in this pic is John Betsch. He was a young Howard Univ. grad and Bessie Coleman's contact in Jacksonville for the coming Welfare League air show she was to headline. He saw her fall from the plane to her death in 1926. He is the father of former Spelman president Johnetta B. Cole (top right) and the famed Beach Lady (top left)...
Bessie Coleman Grave Flyover
Since 1931 pilots (from the Tuskegee Airmen to Bessie Coleman-inspired female pilots) have flown over Chicago's Lincoln cemetery to drop flowers onto Bessie Coleman's grave...
Monday, June 24, 2013
Historical Resolution Honoring Bessie Coleman Set for August 27, 2013
Great News!
The resolution to honor Bessie Coleman has been approved by the Jacksonville, Florida city council and signed by the mayor. Please keep August 27th (Tuesday) 5:30 pm open on your calendar if you plan to attend this historical occasion at the council meeting -
located: Jacksonville City Hall 117 West Duval St., Suite 425. Jacksonville, FL 32202
adjacent to Hemming Plaza downtown.
Also, send me a message if you would like a reserve seat to politainment1@gmail.com.
Thanks so much for your contribution and support for this incredible pioneer in aviation.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Draft City Council Resolution Honoring Bessie Coleman
This is the draft resolution honoring aviatrix pioneer Bessie Coleman. It will be presented at the next big city council meeting. The public is welcome and encouraged to come and witness history in the making.
THIS IS A DRAFT
Introduced by Council Member Jones:
RESOLUTION 2013-
A RESOLUTION HONORING AND COMMEMORATING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
OF PIONEERING AVIATRIX BESSIE COLEMAN; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, Bessie Coleman was born January 26, 1892 in Atlanta, Texas
and raised in Waxahachie, Texas where she was the tenth of 13 children and attended
a one-room segregated schoolhouse and became the family’s bookkeeper at a very
young age for her mother’s cooking and housekeeping business; and
WHEREAS,
Bessie Coleman at 18 years old attended college at the Colored Agricultural and
Normal University in Langston, Oklahoma for several months before she ran out
of money and headed back home to Waxahachie in grand style with members of the
marching band in tow; and she moved to Chicago several years later during the
mass migration from the south during World War I where she worked and became
known as the fastest manicurist in the city while dreaming of learning to fly
and becoming a pilot in the new world of aeronautics; and
WHEREAS,
in 1920 Bessie Coleman, having learned French and using money that she had
saved, and receiving an investment from an African-American banker, went to
France where gender and racial prejudice was much less pronounced, and
completed an aviation course, becoming the first American to receive a pilot’s
license from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and thereby became the
first licensed black pilot in the United States upon her return to America; and
WHEREAS,
Bessie Coleman performed in air shows around the country where she became
known as “Queen Bess” and “Brave Bessie” as a result of her breath-taking air
maneuvers and highly entertaining parachute jumps, and the Norman Studios in
Jacksonville communicated with Bessie about using her flying skills to make
what will later become The Flying Ace, and Queen Bess gave lectures inspiring
others to pursue their dreams all while saving up money to make her dream of
opening a flight school come true so that African Americans could learn how to
fly here in the United States; and
WHEREAS, in 1926 on April 30th while on a barnstorming
tour in Florida, Brave Bessie fell from her plane in Jacksonville at the now
defunct Paxon Airfield where Bessie Coleman was killed, and thousands of
mourners filed pass her coffin here at the St. Philips Episcopal Church and
Bethel Baptist Institutional Church; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Jacksonville :
Section 1. The City of
Jacksonville hereby honors and commemorates a legacy of pioneering aviation,
self-confidence and heroism of famed African-American female aviatrix Bessie
Coleman, and urges all people to profit from her example of persistence and self-determination
to follow her dreams and achieve unprecedented success despite long odds and
discouraging circumstances.
Section 2. Effective Date. This Resolution shall become effective upon
signature by the Mayor or upon becoming effective without the Mayor's
signature.
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Florida Times Union Corrects the Record on Aviatrix Bessie Coleman
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Congrats to Bessie Coleman on a front page honor in Jacksonville's Florida Times Union newspaper. A paper that slighted her in 1926 when she died (April 30), finally corrected the record - on the 87th anniversary of her death in that city. www.Poli-Tainment.com
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| The Florida Times Union Features Aviatrix Bessie Coleman on Front Page |
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| The Florida Times Union runs Bessie Coleman story on front page April 30, 2013. |
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Jacksonville asked to honor first black woman pilot
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Bob Self/The Florida Times-Union
Opio Sokoni sits under the plaque commemorating the first black woman pilot in the U.S. who died in a plane crash at Paxon Air Field which was located near where Paxon High School is now located. Bessie Coleman crashed and was killed in a flying accident on April 30, 1926.
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It was big news in Jacksonville, briefly, 87 years ago.
On April 30, 1926, the lead headline of the afternoon edition of the Jacksonville Journal was played big: “Jax Airplane Crash Kills Two.” The headline in the next morning’s Times-Union was smaller but flashier: “Death at controls of airplane as two are flung from the sky.”
The stories recounted how aviatrix Bessie Coleman — the first black woman to get a pilot’s license — fell 2,000 feet to her death from an out-of-control plane piloted by William Wills, who was killed as the plane exploded on impact.
Thousands of people attended a memorial service in Jacksonville for Coleman, a celebrity pilot known for her daring, her perseverance and her beauty. Then the city moved on. Now there’s scant evidence in the city where she plunged to her death that she was ever there.
Jacksonville native Opio Sokoni is pushing to change that. He thinks there should be something named for her in Jacksonville — afterall, a main road at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago is named Bessie Coleman Drive.
“Here, I found out, no streets, no schools, no libraries, no parks. No nothing,” Sokoni said.
He found some support when he asked the City Council last week to do something to memorialize Coleman.
Councilman Warren Jones, whose district takes in the area where she died, said he’ll introduce a resolution honoring her. In an interview after the council meeting, he said he will also look into renaming a street or a park after Coleman, though that isn’t always an easy thing.
“He brought up a good point,” Jones said of Sokoni. “I’m just trying to determine how best to do it.”
Councilman Bill Gulliford said he’d support doing something more than a resolution.
“I think that for a woman, and especially as an African-American woman, in that time, to accomplish what she did was pretty doggone impressive,” he said.
There is one reminder of Coleman in Jacksonville already.
In January 2012, a bronze plaque of “Queen Bess,” as she was known, was placed next to the front doors of Paxon School for Advanced Studies, which in the 1920s was the site of the airfield where Coleman’s fatal flight began. It was unveiled by members of the Bessie Coleman Aerospace Legacy Inc., founded by a group of African-American female pilots.
That group sponsors an essay contest for Paxon students, and students see the plaque every day, said the school’s principal, Royce Turner. “She is kept alive in that way,” he said.
The school has another aeronautical connection: The road in front of it has already been renamed for Paxon grad Norman E. Thagard, a one-time astronaut. “And we’re the Eagles, and that gives us another connection to flying,” Turner said.
Marisa Carbone of Atlantic Beach researched Coleman’s life for a screenplay that was featured at a script contest at the Jacksonville Film Festival in 2004.
“You know, there should be a statue here, there really should,” Carbone said. “She was a pioneer here. She was before Amelia Earhart.”
Coleman, the daughter of Texas sharecroppers, was intrepid: When schools in America wouldn’t teach her to fly, she went to language school to learn French, then traveled to France to get her pilot’s license in 1921.
She was pretty and engaging and brave, which made her a favorite of the Chicago Defender newspaper, a black publication that frequently put her on the front page. Railroad porters put copies of the paper on trains, which then took it around the country, where word of the barnstorming pilot spread, Carbone said.
Coleman put on flying displays around the country, and came to Jacksonville in 1926 to prepare for a big show on May 1. The day before, she and Willis took off to scout out where she would make a parachute jump the next day.
In flight over the Westside, the plane, a Curtiss JN-4, went into a sudden dive and Coleman, who was peering over the side, fell to the ground. Wills died moments later in the crash landing. News reports at the time said a wrench had slid and jammed into the “control gears” of the plane.
“They had a huge service for her at Bethel [Baptist Institutional Church],” Carbone said, “and then they put her body on a train, and all across the country the train stopped and there were services along the way, and when it got to Chicago there was an even bigger service.”
Books have been written about Coleman, and she was honored with a postal service stamp. Mae Jemison, the first black women to fly in space, called Coleman an inspiration. On the anniversary of her death, pilots in Chicago do a flyover past her grave.
A resolution in Jacksonville would be nice, Sokoni said, but it’s not enough.
He’s 43, a Navy vet and graduate of Howard University law school. His family goes back generations in Cosmo, a little community in Fort Caroline. After law school he went west and ran a small radio station in Portland, Ore., and had a few stints on TV facing off against Fox News hosts such as Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham. Back in Jacksonville, he now heads a nonprofit called Poli-tainment Inc., which mixes entertainment and social issues.
That’s where he learned of Coleman’s story, which he made into a short film, “Bessie Coleman: Flying the Blues,” that’s now on YouTube. “Bessie Coleman was one of a kind,” he said. “People need to know about her.”
And the city where she died, he figures, needs to do something more to keep her story alive.
“I don’t want this to be just a black thing,” Sokoni said. “The entire city needs to understand that this woman belongs to all of us.”
Matt Soergel: (904) 359-4082
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| Bessie Coleman Plaque at Paxon High School |
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| Bessie Coleman |
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Jacksonville, Florida City Council members Gulliford and Jones were the first to speak up in support of honoring aviatrix pioneer Bessie Coleman in a major way in the city.
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| Councilman Gulliford |
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| Councilman Jones |
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Bessie Coleman Fying the Blues
FILM:
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Honor Aviatrix Bessie Coleman Speech by Opio Sokoni at Jacksonville, FL City Council Meeting
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Below is the text of the speech given at the Jacksonville, Florida City Council's April 23, 2013 meeting. Opio Sokoni requested that the City commit to officially honoring Bessie Coleman who died in Jacksonville, Florida April 30, 1926.
SPEECH TEXT:
I come before you to respectfully request that we as
a city properly honor aviatrix pioneer Bessie Coleman. The city of
Jacksonville, Florida is the only town relevant to her storied life that has
not formally recognized her memory with a street, building or other major city honor.
Bessie Coleman earned an international pilot’s license from the most
prestigious flight school in France. She was the first African American female
to fly a plane. Bessie was immensely popular during the 1920s and was admired
by many pilots of the day. She was known for breath-taking air maneuvers and
highly entertaining parachute jumps. The Norman Studios here in Jacksonville
communicated with Bessie about a film based on her incredible flying.
On April 27th, 1926 Coleman came to Jacksonville to headline an airshow sponsored
by the Negro Welfare League. Her contact here was an impressive, young 21 year
old name John Thomas Betsch, a Howard University graduate. He is the father of
our very own Johnetta B. Cole. While here in Jacksonville, Bessie made speeches
at the Strand Theatre, Stanton High School, Davis Street Elementary and Darnell
Cookman.
On April 30, 1926, while flying over the now defunct
Paxon Airfield, Brave Bessie fell 2000 feet from her airplane. She died
instantly. Bessie’s body was taken to the Lawton L. Pratt funeral home. Bessie
was to appear at the Elite Circle and Girls’ DeLuxe Club’s much anticipated
dance that evening, a memorial was held for her instead. A funeral was held for
Bessie here at the Bethel Baptist Institutional Church. Thousands of mourners
filed past her coffin in Jacksonville. Reverends Scott Bartley, T.H.B. Walker
and John E. Ford presided over the massive funeral. The choir sung Bessie’s
favorite gospel song; “I’ve Done My Work.” A second service was held for her in
the city at the St. Philips Episcopal Church on Union Street - presided over by
Reverend Parchment.
When Bessie Coleman died, The Florida Times Union
newspaper refused to mention her by name; simply calling her “that woman.” A
letter has been sent to their editor asking them to run a story to correct the
record.
Bessie would not live to see the Norman Studios make its most famous
film, The Flying Ace. The United States Postal Service, however, did recognize
Bessie’s pioneering achievements with a postage stamp. The city of her childhood in Texas and her
adopted city (Chicago) have both named major roads and schools in Bessie’s
honor. Jacksonville, on the other hand, has streets named after Amelia Earhart
and the Wright brothers. Bessie has a closer tie to Jacksonville than either of
these great aviation pioneers but has not been honored as they have. It is my
belief that this woman belongs to this city as much as she belongs to either of
the other cities mentioned. This was the place she made her last flight, before
she fell into history, doing what she loved while contributing to the new world
of aeronautics.
I say let’s formally commit to doing something major
to honor this woman. It will be long overdue for the life and memory of
Elizabeth Bessie Coleman.
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Opio L. Sokoni, MSCJ, JD at the Jacksonville, FL
city hall on April 23, 2013 - after making a speech
to the City Council concerning formally honoring
female pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman.
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Opio Sokoni is from Jacksonville, Florida where he did an independent graduate study on pioneering aviatrix Bessie Coleman at the University of North Florida. He is also a political science graduate from Norfolk State University and has a law degree from Howard University.
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